December Highlights: Skating, Sanity, and Snow

Am I ever not busy? I don’t think so… But some things made this month busier than others. Like hats flying off the shelves at Jas. Townsend & Son, meaning I’m making 12-15 hats a week instead of 10. Then there was that minor detail of Mom getting sick with bronchitis for two weeks, and Joy being busy with work and finals (then getting sick herself) meaning I was the one in charge of getting things done. The upside to all that is I haven’t got sick myself, and I’d much rather do extra work around the house than be laid up a week or two.

My Life

Writing, obviously, kept me busy. And I reworked my schedule (more on that in a moment). I do that every few months…pile up so much stuff I can’t get it all done, then step back and reorganize everything in an effort to still get most of it gets done, while gaining extra time to do the newest things I want to try my hand at.

Speaking of new things, I’m preparing to take up another hobby. Calligraphy. The main reason being, I have a beautiful leather griffin journal that I want to fill with facts and timelines from one of my lands, but one does not simply fill such a cool book with sloppy handwriting. Hence, calligraphy.

And even I take a vacation sometimes. This last week was my ‘free week’. I’d a few minor things I need to get done and catch up on, and a few more items I wanted to work on in my spare time, as well as some books to finish… *takes deep breath* But yes, mainly a free week.

I was able to go to a friend’s house on Tuesday, then travel to Chicago with a church group on Wednesday. We went to a museum, then out ice skating. So much fun, except for getting a migraine halfway through the day in Chicago and ending up spending most of the evening curled in a corner of the building where one rents and changes skates. But hey, it’s not everyone who gets to catch snippets of random conversations and get mistaken for a pile of bags. Besides, maybe one day I’ll have a character who get’s migraines…

The next day, I and two of my friends took pictures of each other. Here are some of my favorites of myself.

I also discovered Imagine Dragon songs this month. Some of them are a bit darker, but they are so full of story ideas!

From the mouths of children:

I like to scribble down funny lines I hear others say. And with eight younger siblings, I pick up a random assortment of logic and thoughts.

Random things one hears while sitting at my desk…The one from my 8-year-old sister: ‘I can’t come right now. I dropped my hair’. (the context being the hair of a lego person…I assume)

My four-year-old sister on being carried up the hill: ‘My legs are tired. Everything else is not tired.’

The same four-year-old sister gave me an empty plate one morning and I pretended to eat from it. She stared at me in horror. ‘No! There isn’t any food there. You ate the glass.’

My Writing

My main project has been Shadows of the Hersweald, but I’ve other works coming along too.

WIPs

Shadows of the Hersweald is going well. It is now in the hands of beta readers and I’m going to read the novella out loud to myself in the next few weeks.

I’m going over Fidelyon still, working on beta reader feedback and clipping. It’s going well. And I’m under 140,000 words! I’m shaving off as much extra as I can, to give myself breather room when I start going back through it again.

I’ve been working on the theme and structure of Scarlet Rose recently. I’m hoping to get it in a readable shape by the end of January or February, then write the second book in the trilogy this spring/summer, and the third one for NaNo. Yeah, I like to go big. We’ll see if it really happens…

More details on next year’s deadlines coming next week in my newsletter…

Other Writing

Blog changes: due to the amount of writing I’m doing, I’m going to be blogging less. Caption Challenges on Monday, then a post on Fridays. No more Wednesday posting except on special occasions.

I’m also stopping the Realm Leaper stories with each monthly newsletter. Instead, I am offering a free set of three different designs of Song of the Sword wallpaper! If you are already signed up, you’ll get the free downloads with the next newsletter. If you aren’t signed up, you can sign up here and get it at once!

Me

Just a random fun fact from Pinterest. Do I care? No, I don’t. I’m a writer. I can be a bit insane if I please.

What have you been up to this month? Have you listed to any Imagine Dragon songs? If you have, what is your favorite one? Did you have a white Christmas (we did)? Did you go shopping after Christmas (there is no better time to buy chocolate)? What are some of your favorite winter activities?

Interested in being on the inside of the publication and marketing process, helping me take over the hearts and minds of the world one story at a time? Join my street team…ahem, army, the Legendaires. Click here for more information.

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13 Comments

YES!! CALLIGRAPHY!!! Congratulations. *shakes your hand vigorously* Don’t be discouraged by the shaky beginner stuff. All it takes is practice. Literally. That’s all it takes. Also I advise you to start with a simple font— perhaps basic italic, or if you wanna go more, um, Tolkien, try uncials. DO NOT START WITH THE ADVANCED STYLES. Just because I did doesn’t mean it’s a good idea… 😛 XD Also, practice on lined paper. It teaches you to write straight.

Uncial is good! You probably aren’t all that interested in where it comes from or during what dates it was most common, but anyway, it is fairly easy on a beginner (lefty-friendly too), but still looks pretty.

Cool wrap up post! Let’s see most of this month I’ve been doing school work 🙁 but whatever I had Christmas off so that was fun! I’ve only heard a few songs by this group and that is Radioactive, Monster, Ready Aim Fire, and Warriors. No we didn’t have a white Christmas but it was nice and cold 😀 I did go after Christmas shopping 🙂 favorite winter activities… Hummmm… well if it rains I love to go out in the rain!

I just found your site via A Writer’s Path but I will definitely be back to visit regularly. And I read Rose of Prophecy. It’s always great to find a fellow author who likes Tolkien and fairy tales (and Christian fiction). 🙂

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